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Who becomes a tenured professor, and why? Panel data evidence from German sociology, 1980–2013

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  • Lutter, Mark
  • Schröder, Martin

Abstract

Prior studies that try to explain who gets tenure and why remain inconclusive, especially on whether non-meritocratic factors influence who becomes a professor. Based on career and publication data of virtually all sociologists working in German sociology departments, we test how meritocratic factors (academic productivity) as well as non-meritocratic factors (ascription, symbolic and social capital) influence the chances of getting a permanent professorship in sociology. Our findings show that getting tenure in sociology is strongly related to scholarly output, as previous studies have shown. Improving on existing studies, however, we show specifically that each refereed journal article and each monograph increases a sociologist's chance for tenure by 10 to 15 percent, while other publications affect odds for tenure only marginally and in some cases even negatively. Regarding non-meritocratic factors, we show that network size, individual reputation, and gender matters. Women get their first permanent position as university professor with on average 23 to 44 percent fewer publications than men; all else being equal, they are about 1.4 times more likely to get tenure than men. The article generally contributes to a better understanding of the role of meritocratic and non-meritocratic factors in achieving scarce and highly competitive job positions in academia.

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  • Lutter, Mark & Schröder, Martin, 2016. "Who becomes a tenured professor, and why? Panel data evidence from German sociology, 1980–2013," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(5), pages 999-1013.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:respol:v:45:y:2016:i:5:p:999-1013
    DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2016.01.019
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    2. Mario Fernandes & Andreas Walter, 2023. "The times they are a-changin’: profiling newly tenured business economics professors in Germany over the past thirty years," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 93(5), pages 929-971, July.
    3. Bukstein, Daniel & Gandelman, Néstor, 2019. "Glass ceilings in research: Evidence from a national program in Uruguay," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(6), pages 1550-1563.
    4. Matthies, Hildegard & Torka, Marc, 2019. "Academic Habitus and Institutional Change: Comparing Two Generations of German Scholars," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 57(3), pages 345-371.
    5. Christian Schneijderberg & Nicolai Götze & Lars Müller, 2022. "A study of 25 years of publication outputs in the German academic profession," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(1), pages 1-28, January.
    6. Lerchenmueller, Marc J. & Sorenson, Olav, 2018. "The gender gap in early career transitions in the life sciences," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(6), pages 1007-1017.
    7. Achwan, Rochman & Ganie-Rochman, Meuthia & Alamsyah, Andi Rahman & Triana, Lidya, 2020. "University reform and the development of social sciences in Indonesia," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    8. Fernandes, Mario & Hilber, Simon & Sturm, Jan-Egbert & Walter, Andreas, 2023. "Closing the gender gap in academia? Evidence from an affirmative action program," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(9).
    9. Janys, Lena, 2020. "Evidence for a Two-Women Quota in University Departments across Disciplines," IZA Discussion Papers 13372, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Isabel M. Habicht & Mark Lutter & Martin Schröder, 2021. "How human capital, universities of excellence, third party funding, mobility and gender explain productivity in German political science," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(12), pages 9649-9675, December.
    11. Erina Ytsma, 2022. "Effort and Selection Effects of Performance Pay in Knowledge Creation," CESifo Working Paper Series 10153, CESifo.
    12. Lutter, Mark & Schröder, Martin, 2019. "Is there a motherhood penalty in academia? The gendered effect of children on academic publications," MPIfG Discussion Paper 19/2, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    13. Lutter, Mark & Habicht, Isabel M. & Schröder, Martin, 2022. "Gender differences in the determinants of becoming a professor in Germany. An event history analysis of academic psychologists from 1980 to 2019," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(6).
    14. Koppman, Sharon & Leahey, Erin, 2019. "Who moves to the methodological edge? Factors that encourage scientists to use unconventional methods," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(9), pages 1-1.

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